The invention relates to upgrading oils by effecting removal of trace metal impurities.
It has long been known that various metallic elements are found in naturally occuring and synthetic crude oils (see O. I. Miller et al, Anal. Chem., 24, 1728 [1952]).
Some of these metal impurities are known to be harmful when present in charge stocks for petroleum refining, for example cracking, when present in fuels for boilers and turbines and the like uses.
A process for removing vanadium and sodium from a crude oil is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,764,525 (F. W. Porter et al) wherein the oil is contacted in the presence of hydrogen with alumina containing a minor amount of ferric oxide.
A method of treating a petroleum oil containing trace metal components is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,910,434 (H. V. Hess, et al) wherein the oil is contacted with an inert packing material in the presence of hydrogen gas.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,987,470 (M. Turken) a process is disclosed for demineralizing an oil by contact thereof in an ebullated bed with particulate contact materials, for example bauxite, alumina and the like.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,509 (R. H. Walk et al) metal- and sulfur-containing contaminants in a residual oil are removed from the oil by contacting the oil in the presence of desulfurization catalyst and an intimate admixture of inert demetallization solids.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,995 (R. H. Walk et al) metals are removed from a sulfur- and metals-contaminated oil using porous alumina solids activated with an oxide promoter of the group Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3, TiO.sub.2 and SiO.sub.2.
An object of this invention is to provide an improved process for upgrading an oil by removing metal contaminants from the oil using a novel oxide-promoted alumina.